Record of Results

Four years ago, I made a set of promises.You deserve to know how I've done.

The Fight ContinuesOpposing the Marine Transfer StationSince being elected, Ben has led the opposition to the Marine Transfer Station. He succeeded in moving the ramp north of Asphalt Green (protecting 35,000 children) and reducing use by two-thirds, keeping 300 trucks off our streets. But there’s more work ahead and he’ll keep fighting

STRENGTHENING OUR SCHOOLSAs a graduate of Bronx Science, Ben believes in providing a world class public education. He fought for free pre-kindergarten for our neighborhood and won more than 400 seats for our children.

INVESTING IN OUR PARKSAfter years of neglect, the East River Esplanade desperately needed help. Ben secured $150 million to rehabilitate and expand our waterfront park, including new lighting, noise barriers, and irrigation to keep it green.

MAKING LIFE EASIER FOR COMMUTERSOpening the Second Avenue subway line has provided much relief to busy commuters. So has adding off-board payment to M79 and M86 buses, 79 new M15 buses, and Roosevelt Island ferry service–all transportation improvements Ben has championed.

FIGHTING CORRUPTIONBen committed to doing the right thing. He authored the laws to prohibit outside income and eliminate “legal bribery,” to make the City Council a full-time job working for the people.

KEEPING THE NEIGHBORHOOD CLEAN WITH NEW TRASH CANSInvested $154,780 on 284 new large trash cans for the Upper East Side to get cleaner. The new large trash cans are housed in a green metal case with a dome top and a small opening that prevents trash from spilling and has been reported to deter rodents.

FIGHTING OVERDEVELOPMENT The City can and must do more to fight overdevelopment and the march of Superscrapers across 57th Street and into residential neighborhoods. In response Ben is leading the East River fifties and other electeds filing an application to rezone the Sutton neighborhood, capping buildings at 210 feet or 260 feet if they included affordable housing on-site.

SCAFFOLDINGNew York City has nearly 9,000 scaffolds that cover nearly 200 miles of city sidewalks. Scaffolding is supposed to temporary, to protect the public from falling bricks or construction. Ben introduced a bill aimed at dismantling the unnecessary scaffolds. The bill creates a timeline or upto six months so that when scaffolding goes up, the work gets done and the scaffolding goes back down, or the city steps in and makes bad landlords pay.

HELPING THE HOMELESSHomelessness continues to rise with atleast 23,365 children, 17,847 family members, 3,785 single women, and 9,873 single men in our shelters, and more than 2,794 people on the streets. I launched the Eastside Taskforce for Homeless Outreach and Services (ETHOS) with other elected officials, Department of Social Services (DSS), community and faith leaders and service organizations. The organization has already been able to help a chronically homeless individual in the community who had long been suffering.

SUPPORTING STEMBen invested over $2 million in discretionary funding from my office to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education in our local public schools with new computers, smart boards and science labs. Technology is where tomorrow’s jobs are being created. For kids to be ready for the future we have to invest in STEM courses that train them from an early age.

Add Your Name in Support of Our Record of Improving Schools, Parks, Commutes and Fighting Corruption.